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Agriculture · head to head

Datamars Livestock vs Lindsay FieldNET

Datamars Livestock logo

Datamars Livestock

Agriculture

EID tag, weigh scale and livestock data platform behind the Tru-Test brand

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Lindsay FieldNET logo

Lindsay FieldNET

Agriculture

Remote pivot monitoring, control and irrigation scheduling that retrofits almost any electric pivot

From
$300/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Datamars Livestock the software exists to sell tags, readers and scales, so its feature depth in breeding, financials and grazing planning is well short of dedicated herd management systems.; Lindsay FieldNET the subscription is per pivot per year and permanent, so a thirty pivot farm carries roughly a five-figure annual bill on top of the retrofit hardware and never owns the capability outright.
  • They diverge on capability: Datamars Livestock covers EID and visual tag management, Lindsay FieldNET covers Pivot Watch.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Datamars Livestock and Lindsay FieldNET actually diverge.

Attributes where Datamars Livestock and Lindsay FieldNET differ
AttributeDatamars LivestockLindsay FieldNET
Starting priceOn request$300/year
Pricing modelquotePer pivot per year plus hardware
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, WindowsWeb, iOS, Android

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Agriculture).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Datamars Livestock

  • EID and visual tag management
  • Weigh session capture
  • Average daily gain
  • Auto-drafting
  • Traceability records
  • Bluetooth reader sync
  • Treatment and animal events

Only in Lindsay FieldNET

  • Pivot Watch
  • Pivot Control retrofit
  • Remote start and stop
  • FieldNET Advisor
  • Variable rate irrigation
  • Alerts and diagnostics
  • Multi-brand fleet view

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Datamars Livestock

  • A beef finisher drafting cattle to a target weight automatically at the crushnot Lindsay FieldNET
  • A sheep producer tracking lamb growth rates by sire to inform ram selectionnot Lindsay FieldNET
  • A New Zealand farm needing NAIT-compliant movement records generated from the same scans used for weighingnot Lindsay FieldNET
  • A grazier comparing average daily gain across mobs on different paddocks or supplementsnot Lindsay FieldNET

Lindsay FieldNET

  • A farm with Valley, Reinke and Zimmatic pivots that wants one app instead of three vendor systemsnot Datamars Livestock
  • An operation with pivots an hour apart where a physical check costs half a daynot Datamars Livestock
  • A grower under a water allocation that needs defensible scheduling to stay inside the limitnot Datamars Livestock
  • A manager who needs an alert the moment a pivot stops overnight rather than at dawnnot Datamars Livestock

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Datamars Livestock

  • The software exists to sell tags, readers and scales, so its feature depth in breeding, financials and grazing planning is well short of dedicated herd management systems.
  • A migration to new cloud software is scheduled from January 2026 for Tru-Test indicator and reader customers, which puts historical Data Link desktop records at risk if they are not exported deliberately before support changes.
  • Hardware lock-in is real: the automatic capture that makes the platform useful depends on Datamars and Tru-Test devices, and a farm with Gallagher scales gets a much thinner experience.
  • Software being bundled with hardware means it has never been priced or sold on its own merits, so there is no published cost, no clear upgrade path and no leverage if the bundling arrangement changes.
  • Traceability support is country-specific and uneven, so a farm outside the main New Zealand, Australian, UK and North American markets may find its national scheme is not directly supported and needs manual file preparation.

Lindsay FieldNET

  • The subscription is per pivot per year and permanent, so a thirty pivot farm carries roughly a five-figure annual bill on top of the retrofit hardware and never owns the capability outright.
  • The Pivot Control retrofit is around $1,700 a unit before installation, which on an older or low-value pivot can approach a meaningful fraction of what the machine is worth.
  • FieldNET Advisor is priced separately from control, so the scheduling intelligence that justifies the platform is an additional line item rather than part of the subscription.
  • Cellular coverage decides whether it works; pivots in a coverage hole get intermittent control and alerts, which is the worst possible failure mode for a system you have stopped driving out to check.
  • Support and installation run through Lindsay dealers, so a farm in a territory with a weak dealer gets slow retrofits and slow fault resolution regardless of what the platform can do.

Pricing, plan by plan

Datamars Livestock

On request
  • Datamars Livestock$undefined/year
    • Historically bundled with purchase of Datamars and Tru-Test hardware
    • Tag, reader and weigh indicator hardware is the actual cost
    • Cloud platform terms changing with the January 2026 migration

Lindsay FieldNET

$300/year
  • Pivot Watch$undefined/year
    • Monitoring only, no remote control
    • Lower annual subscription than control tiers
    • Device purchased per pivot
  • Pivot Control$300/year
    • Approximately $300 per pivot per year
    • Retrofit unit around $1,700 plus installation
    • Full remote start, stop, speed and endgun control
  • FieldNET Advisor$undefined/year
    • Irrigation scheduling and decision support
    • Priced separately on top of control subscription
    • Uses soil, crop stage and weather inputs

Which should you pick?

Choose Datamars Livestock if

  • You need eid and visual tag management.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
  • You also want weigh session capture.
Datamars Livestock review

Choose Lindsay FieldNET if

  • You need pivot watch.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want pivot control retrofit.
Lindsay FieldNET review

Questions people ask

Is Datamars Livestock or Lindsay FieldNET better?
Neither clearly leads. Datamars Livestock starts at On request and Lindsay FieldNET at $300/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Datamars Livestock or Lindsay FieldNET?
Datamars Livestock starts at On request and Lindsay FieldNET at $300/year.
Does Datamars Livestock or Lindsay FieldNET run on more platforms?
Datamars Livestock runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows. Lindsay FieldNET runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Datamars Livestock best used for?
Datamars Livestock is most often used for a beef finisher drafting cattle to a target weight automatically at the crush, a sheep producer tracking lamb growth rates by sire to inform ram selection, a new zealand farm needing nait-compliant movement records generated from the same scans used for weighing, a grazier comparing average daily gain across mobs on different paddocks or supplements. Of those, a beef finisher drafting cattle to a target weight automatically at the crush and a sheep producer tracking lamb growth rates by sire to inform ram selection are not what Lindsay FieldNET is typically brought in for.
What can Datamars Livestock do that Lindsay FieldNET cannot?
Datamars Livestock covers EID and visual tag management, Weigh session capture, Average daily gain, Auto-drafting. Lindsay FieldNET covers Pivot Watch, Pivot Control retrofit, Remote start and stop, FieldNET Advisor.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Datamars Livestock: Do I have to pay for the software?

It has historically been included with purchase of Datamars and Tru-Test hardware. The January 2026 cloud migration is the point at which to confirm what the ongoing terms are.

Lindsay FieldNET: Does FieldNET only work with Zimmatic pivots?

No. FieldNET Pivot Control is built to retrofit almost any electric pivot, and mixed fleets of Valley, Reinke and Zimmatic machines run in one account.

Datamars Livestock: What happens to my Data Link records?

They need to be migrated to the new cloud platform. Export your historical weigh sessions before the transition rather than assuming everything carries across.

Lindsay FieldNET: What does it cost per pivot?

Around $1,700 for a Pivot Control unit plus installation, then roughly $300 per pivot per year. Pivot Watch monitoring is cheaper on both.

Datamars Livestock: Will it work with Gallagher scales?

Not natively in the way it works with Tru-Test hardware. You lose the automatic session sync that is the main reason to use it.

Lindsay FieldNET: Is FieldNET Advisor included?

No. Advisor is the scheduling and decision support layer and is quoted separately from remote control.

Datamars Livestock: Does it handle NAIT and NLIS?

Yes, for New Zealand and Australia respectively, generating movement and identification records from the same EID scans used for weighing.

Lindsay FieldNET: What happens if the cellular signal drops?

You lose remote control and alerting until it returns, which is why coverage should be checked at each pivot before committing.

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